


Eyes on the Prize

by Leopardmask



Category: Hermitcraft RPF
Genre: (more info on that in the notes), Accidental superpowers, Decked Out, Decked Out Powers AU, Gen, Mycelium Resistance mention, Respawn, The AU has some minor body horror but this fic doesn't have much, mayor Scar, season 7
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-22
Updated: 2020-10-22
Packaged: 2021-03-09 06:20:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27149324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leopardmask/pseuds/Leopardmask
Summary: There might be more to those artifacts than just pretty symbols on a wall...
Comments: 17
Kudos: 50





	Eyes on the Prize

Bdubs was practically strutting as he brought his newfound artifacts to his Decked Out board. He had made it out of the dungeon alive on his very first try! Sure, others had too, but many of the hermits still hadn't beaten the dungeon after many attempts. Bdubs had not been anywhere near as confident in his own skill as he liked to act. And he had succeeded with no prior knowledge of the game beyond the basic rules, too.

"Sea lantern, nice choice," came a voice behind him. Bdubs turned to see Impulse admiring his board. "Of course, I might be a little biased," Impulse added with a chuckle.

"Thank you," Bdubs responded emphatically. "Got these all on my first try, too!"

"Congrats, man," Impulse replied. "And you got two from the same set as well, I think? Yeah, look, you've got two from the Snowman set. That must be one of the new ones Tango just added. You might get to be the first to complete it!"

"Fastest to get on the leaderboard, that's me," Bdubs bragged. Then he remembered how Impulse had worded the conversation. "By the way, what did you mean 'nice choice' with the sea lantern? Aren't the artifacts random?"

"Yeah," Impulse explained, "but sea lantern is a fun one to have in your active spot. Plus, I've got the full Ocean set, so if you need any help or anything, you have someone to ask. No one else has the Snowman stuff yet and the nether wart is boring."

"Oh, yes, Mr. Beta Tester with all the points and inside scoops," Bdubs grumbled amicably. "How many points do you have now?"

"Just two," Impulse shrugged. "Poison and Ocean. Cub and Etho are really battling it out for first."

Bdubs realized at that moment that there was something off about Impulse's arms - and face, come to think of it. There were extra… lines that shouldn't be there? Almost like his friend had scales. Or very dry skin. Bdubs decided not to ask - it might be a sensitive topic.

“I wanted to come in here knowing only how to play,” Bdubs explained, “and see how much I can learn as I go. But I’ll certainly let you know if I need one of those insider secrets of yours.”

Impulse laughed. “Alright, man. I’m just going in to do another dungeon run now. See you around.”

"Yeah, see ya," Bdubs waved. He watched Impulse go down and through the door, staring at the doorway until he got a headache. He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, shook his head, and left.

\-----

Bdubs didn’t play Decked Out again for a while. He just wasn’t having great luck finding keys. It didn’t help that he was having some trouble looking at any one thing for very long. He wasn’t getting headaches anymore, but even just a few seconds of staring at something meant a colored haze starting to creep in on the edges of his vision, and a crescendoing rushing noise in his ears. It was uncomfortable, and almost dizzying.

He wasn't looking forward to his meeting with Scar today. He'd rather do some building - his eyes traveled his workspace enough that whatever was happening wouldn't bother him too much. But here he was, in the town hall, too-conspicuously avoiding eye contact with Scar.

"Bdubs!" Scar waved his hand in front of Bdubs' face, drawing attention back to himself. "Look at your mayor when he's speaking, please."

"Sorry, sir." 

The dynamic between them irked Bdubs sometimes, but Scar did outrank him, after all. He watched Scar as the mayor paced, but he couldn't focus on what Scar was saying. He could barely hear anything over the rushing in his ears, getting louder,  _ louder- _

A flash of light startled Bdubs. The sound vanished, replaced by Scar's yelp of pain.

Bdubs blinked rapidly a few times to clear his vision, then looked up to see Scar clutching at a spot on his chest and giving Bdubs a look somewhere between anger, confusion, and fear. "What-" Scar coughed, leaning against a pillar. "What did you do that for??"

"I-I-" Bdubs stammered, unsure whether to move closer and help or to run away. "I don't even know what I did! Was that me?? Oh, gosh, Scar, I hurt you, didn't I, I am  _ so sorry, _ I didn't mean to, I swear!"

Scar stood up a little straighter, already recovering. He eyed Bdubs suspiciously. Bdubs eyed him back, glancing elsewhere every few moments so that whatever he'd done wouldn't happen again.

"Bdubs, you were playing Decked Out the other day, weren't you? Cub said he saw you coming out of the room." Scar questioned. 

Bdubs, taken aback by the sudden topic change, just nodded. "Only the one time, though. Bad key luck, you know."

"But you came out with loot," Scar pressed.

"Yep!" Bdubs announced proudly. "Four artifacts on my very first run. Didn't even know what I was doing," he added with a laugh.

Scar raised his eyebrows. "You didn't know- well, that might explain it then. Bdubs, you should talk to Cub about this. Tell him what happened. He knows what's up. Until then, let's try this meeting another time."

"Okay, then..." Bdubs replied, still wary of Scar's change in attitude. He waved goodbye, stepped out of the town hall, and took off.

No way was Bdubs going to tell the  _ enforcer _ about how he'd just accidentally attacked the mayor. So instead of looking for Cub, Bdubs headed toward the massive structure off the northwest coast. He needed to take Impulse up on that offer.

\-----

He came in low, swooping right through the main entrance. Impulse - luckily, in his storage area at that moment - closed the chest he was looking through and turned around. "Hey, man. Decided you need my 'insider secrets' after all?"

Bdubs rolled his eyes at him, but didn't refute him. "Yeah, I need your help, Impulse. I've got these weird colors and sounds happening and I think I just hurt Scar by accident, which is... that’s not good, you know? And Scar asked if I’d played Decked Out recently, which I thought was a weird question, but I guess he thought it’d be related and, well, you said you’d help me with Decked Out problems..."

"I did say that," Impulse confirmed, "and you're absolutely right! This is actually exactly what I meant when I offered my help."

"So you knew this would happen?!?" Bdubs accused him. "Why didn't you tell me sooner??"

Impulse sighed. "I probably should have... I guess I assumed you knew. So many people have been walking around with crazy effects on them, they're hard to miss. Zed's been basically a literal dragon for a couple weeks now. And you sounded like you didn't need any more details about the game... I'm sorry, Bdubs. Man, I feel all guilty now! Like I should apologize to you AND Scar - if I'd talked to you earlier, you might not have accidentally zapped him!"

"Honestly, if you'd talked to me earlier, I might not have believed you," Bdubs laughed. "Imagine that conversation, right? 'Oh, yeah, putting a sea lantern in that one specific spot gives you weird headaches, and sounds, and-'"

"Laser eyes," Impulse supplied helpfully. "Like a Guardian."

" _ Oh, _ LASER eyes!!" Bdubs cried, a bit sarcastically. "That makes TOTAL sense! How do I turn it off?"

"Wellll, if you wanted to get rid of it completely, you could switch its place on your board with something else," Impulse admitted. "But I was hoping you'd come here thinking it's cool and learn how to control it. You'll notice I completed that set a while ago - which means I get all the powers in it, for keeps - and I've had my eyes on you for most of this conversation, and I'm not constantly zapping you, so it’s absolutely possible."

Bdubs sighed. “Well, better an effect I know, than one I don’t, right? And it’s a good one for self-defense, too, in case I get into a scrap with the Mycelium Resistance or something.”

“Heh, yeah...”

\-----

They settled on practicing in the unfinished greenhouse - far away from the first floor and any vulnerable villagers around.

“So,” Bdubs prompted. “What’s first?”

“First...” Impulse mused. “Well, you gotta be okay with using powers like this in the first place. So first order of business: hit me with it.”

“Hit  _ you?? _ But I’ll hurt you!” Bdubs protested.

Impulse waved it off. “I’ve been working around Guardians for years. I’m used to it.”

“Alright, if you’re sure...” 

Bdubs stared Impulse down, reminding himself not to look away as the sound and color built in his senses. This time, he was a little less surprised by the flash of light, and when his vision cleared, he saw that Impulse, too, had barely flinched. Impulse did suddenly look spiky at first, but after a few moments the spikes flattened down again, and he just rubbed his shoulder and grinned. “Nice!”

Bdubs relaxed a bit. “You think so?”

“Yeah!”

“What were the spikes I just saw, though?” Bdubs wondered. “That was a little weird.”

“Oh, that,” Impulse chuckled. “Instinct, I guess. Pufferfish powers acting up - from the Poison set.”

“Now, you said you’ve got Poison  _ and _ Ocean sets, so you have Guardian laser eyes too,” Bdubs realized, “but I haven’t seen you use them yet. You want to show me how a pro does it?”

Impulse hesitated. “I guess, if you really want. But there’s not much to aim at around here, except you, and since I turned in the set my power will hit you about four times as hard. I might end up killing you.”

“I can take it,” Bdubs proclaimed, with maybe more confidence than he actually felt. He pulled the ever-present bed out of his inventory and set it down, leaning on the bedpost to connect himself to it. “Try me.”

Impulse raised his eyebrows, then relaxed and trained his eyes on a spot just above Bdubs’ heart. Bdubs watched with interest as Impulse’s normally-dark eyes faded through a rainbow of colors before settling on yellow.

An instant later, a massive jolt shot through Bdubs, followed by numbness, then darkness. He opened his eyes on the bed he had placed, shuddering a little from the residual pins-and-needles feeling. “That’s... really powerful,” he rasped.

“I did warn you,” Impulse reminded him, holding out his hand to help Bdubs up.

“Sure enough, you did,” Bdubs replied with a little laugh. “Wow. So that’s what I get to look forward to if I turn in an entire Ocean set to Tango.”

“Yep!” Impulse helped pick up the items that had fallen on the floor. “And hey, you’re already getting more control over it - I saw you watching me for as long as it took to build a charge, but you didn’t shoot. Just knowing what’s going on is a big help.”

“For sure,” Bdubs acknowledged. “Thanks so much for your help, Impulse. I might be back for some more training another time, but that’s probably good for today, yeah?”

“I agree. Go have some fun with it or something.” Impulse grinned.

\-----

“...So, yeah. I didn’t know what I was doing, and now I do. Sorry again for hurting you like that.”

Scar smiled and clapped Bdubs on the shoulder. “Apology accepted. Don’t let it happen again.”   
  
“Oh, absolutely, never again,” Bdubs effused. 

“Good.” Scar sat down in his chair, pushing an annoyed Jellie to the side. “Now, on to the original reason we were trying to meet: what to do next about the Mycelium Resistance...”

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is the first in the [Decked Out Powers AU](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KYSXFdqaKsokceRq-2xwmxro4zq_zGFXuhQBhJFi-Tg/edit?usp=sharing), put together by myself, 00FFFF, blueticked, Interjection, and CrazyCatMeow!


End file.
